I love the whimsical nature of some of these covers. They let you know right away that the book is what I call a "Paul McCartney Romance" (music; lyrics)—a fun, light read.
So, who's right? Me or Jennie? Both of us! That's the point.
It was hard for me to pick a favorite from these covers because I love every single one of them, for various reasons. They all deserve notice and recognition!
The Broken Road by Shannon GuymonPublisher: Cedar Fort
LDSP comment: I love the whimsy of this cover. I think it's the best cover of all Shannon Guymon's books, by far. I love the image, the loneliness of the empty bench and the road/town that stretches out behind it; I love the sweet and gentle colors; I love the fonts chosen for both title and author name; I love the placement of elements. Even the "A Novel" doesn't distract for me. Yes, I just love this cover!
Publisher: Covenant
LDSP comment: Another bench book. As I said in the comments trail, I debated between The Broken Road and this book for a long time because they had a similar feel and they both had benches. But in the end, I just could not decide which one to not include. I love the colors in this cover. I love the fanciful tree limbs. I'm not a big fan of putting titles in boxes or clouds, so that is the one thing I would have done differently. I might also change the font used for the author's name. It's old and it doesn't go well with the title font. But that said, I still love this cover.
LDSP comment: After extended deliberation in this category, I finally went with this cover as my favorite—but there were issues. I wouldn't have chosen it as winner in this category if they hadn't thrown in that couple at the bottom. That was necessary to say "romance" as opposed to chick lit or paranormal. I didn't care for the font choice used for the title, or its size and placement in relation to the author's name.
So with those issues, why did I pick this as a winner? Because this cover was so intriguing to me that it would have grabbed me no matter which genre it was in! It's so ethereal and complex. I like the locket and the eye, and their placement relative to each other. I love the colors and the swooshes. I just could not make myself look away—and that's why it won my vote.
So with those issues, why did I pick this as a winner? Because this cover was so intriguing to me that it would have grabbed me no matter which genre it was in! It's so ethereal and complex. I like the locket and the eye, and their placement relative to each other. I love the colors and the swooshes. I just could not make myself look away—and that's why it won my vote.
LDSP comment: Again, I like everything about this cover. The playfulness, the colors, the big-eyed girls, the placement of elements. I even like the laundry in the background, even though I have no idea what it has to do with the story. A-plus!
LDSP comment: Normally, I do not like these more realistic, photographic covers with people on them. They interfere with my imagining of the character—and sometimes they are so not how the character is described in the story. I haven't read this book yet, so I'm not biased against it. I like the lacy overlay, the colors, the font choices for the title. And that photo says it all, doesn't it? Given the genre, we know what this story is going to be about.
LDSP comment: If Imprints didn't grab me so forcefully every time I looked at it, this would have been my winner. I love this cover. The tux, the colors, the skyline at the bottom, the fonts, placement, everything. This is one really well put together cover! Kudos!
(Yes, I know this genre has six finalists. I couldn't decide. Deal with it.)
12 comments:
Um . . . can I vote for more than one? I love three of them--The Broken Road, Cross My Heart, and The Rogue Shop. Too hard to choose!
Like Stephanie, I had difficulty with this one. But I really liked Cross My Heart because I heard some of Julie's feelings about her own cover. The Rogue Shop was just as awesome though.
I once again had to chose between two - Cross My Heart and The Rogue Shop, but went with The Rogue Shop overall.
Isn't it odd that the first two covers in this category are both cartoony bench scenes?
I noticed those benches too and the fact that they're right next to each other...
I almost dropped one and substituted something else, but I just liked them both so much.
I personally didn't quite care for the cartoony covers. Just me. None of these really cried out "romance" to me, but I liked the colors on Imprint and the glowy heart is pretty. (Oh, yeah, so I voted for that one.)
I think I should clarify my cartoony cover remark. "Back in the day" (I won't say which day, though it was a pretty dog done long time ago!) when I was still wandering the (non-LDS) bookstores, dreaming of one day being published and seeing my books on the shelves, romances rarely had cartoon-style covers on them. They either had actual people or realistically rendered objects, like flowers. Books with cartoon-style covers tended to be found more often in the literary fiction section. So when I look at covers like Broken Road and Cross My Heart, the "style" simply says "Lit Fic" rather than "romance" to me, even if a couple are sitting right next to each other on a bench. Just one of those things from one's youth that some of us never quite get past. :-}
Well I like Luck of the Draw, but I could be a tad biased. :) Thanks so much for the nomination! All the designers did a fabulous job!
I voted for the Rogue Shop because the colors-- red, black and white-- are definitely eye-catching. Also, do you see the spires of the Salt Lake Temple in the cityscape? Intriguing.
I'm afraid I have not yet read any of these, but the bench scenes, while cute, didn't seem to fit the blurbs. The Luck of the Draw cover is also cute, but doesn't seem to fit a male protagonist. It was hard to choose between Imprints and the Rogue Shop, but the bow tie (and temple skyline) won me over.
Unlike Joyce, I don't associate cartoony covers with "Lit Fic." To me they shout "fluff, not to be taken seriously". They look like children's books. Romance novels take enough hits without deliberately making them look as though they're designed for a twelve-year-old mentality.
Jennie, I remember this as your opinion from last year. I was talking about a prospective cover for a romance the other day and found myself saying, "Well, Jennie Hansen won't like it but..."
I sure appreciate your opinions and I'm glad you are comfortable voicing them here.
I have to say I agree with Jennie, but I know it's just my personal preference. Chick lit is fun and funky but it's not kiddish. Melanie J. --who has a book coming out with Covenant in March-- writes chick lit and has a great cover that's not cartoonish at all. It's fun without being juvenile.
That said, I know Julie is thrilled with her cover and since she wrote the book, I'd say she has a good feel for how well this cover depicts what's inside.
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